


It's Okay to Cry at Weddings

by Talik_Sanis



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Adrien Agreste Is Sunshine, Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir Identity Reveal, Angst, F/M, Happy Ending, Hurt No Comfort, Identity Reveal, Implied/Referenced Sex, It Depends on Your Point Of View, Kids Making Mistakes, Sad Ending, Sad Marinette Dupain-Cheng, Wangst, Weddings, Woobie
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-12
Updated: 2020-06-12
Packaged: 2021-03-04 04:35:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 998
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24687742
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Talik_Sanis/pseuds/Talik_Sanis
Summary: For years, Marinette had dreamed of seeing Adrien Agreste in his wedding suit.The reality was even more beautiful than she had imagined.That's why she's crying.
Relationships: Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir/Kagami Tsurugi, Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir/Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug (one-sided), Luka Couffaine/Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug (past)
Comments: 24
Kudos: 100





	It's Okay to Cry at Weddings

**Author's Note:**

> Be aware that there is a reference to a sexual relationship between a 19 year old and a 16 year old here. Age of consent in France is 15, and I make no comment regarding morality or legality here. It is also a fact that 16 year olds have sex, even with older partners, regardless of the laws.

Standing next to the minister, Adrien was beautiful, resplendent in his perfectly-tailored black suit, adoring, nearly-childish grin on his face.

Marinette had dreamed of this day for years, the sight of him as he took her hand and promised in front of the entire world that he would love her until he died and beyond.

Tears pricked at the edges of her eyes as she stood there, unable to look away: that smile was even more radiant than in her dreams. It was okay to cry at weddings, socially acceptable. No one would question it.

The ceremony matched the groom, lavish and gorgeous because it was something that would only happen _once_.

After the service: a reception at monsieur Bourgeois' hotel. Relaxed. Warm.

Good.

Adrien hadn't had enough warmth in his life.

Luka was there, but he couldn't even bring himself to look at her.

Despite everything, he was still good friends with Adrien, the pair having kept in touch after the guitarist broke up Kitty Section. With a new, more serious group, Luka was travelling from small venue to small venue in a tiny, dilapidated van. Adrien had a first-class ticket mailed to him, so he'd be back with his band after only a few days' disruption.

It seemed as if Luka would never really hit it big. He liked it that way, really; a nomadic life suited him better than the demands of fame and a contract with a record label.

For him, _nothing_ was more important than the music.

He was still quite the heartthrob, though. Chloe was currently chatting him up near the drinks table. Marinette would never like her, but she wasn't the witch that she had been as a teen. Luka... could do worse than that, and even if he hadn't seemed to be enjoying himself in the conversation, Marinette couldn't face him.

Not after the way everything ended.

Entering into a relationship right after she'd gotten her heart broken had set them off on the wrong foot. They never saw it between sweet kisses and guitar lessons, but resentment was festering all the while. He'd been "second best" – a rebound; a desperate comfort blanket that she'd tugged out when she let go of Adrien... as if he was ever “hers.” How could Luka not feel that and know that?

They'd had sex when he was nineteen and she was sixteen and she thought that she was ready because she really just wanted to feel good and loved and desired. She'd been a child in her first relationship, desperate for approval and acceptance, and he was older, experienced; he should have _known_ better. How could she not begrudge him for that?

And, no, that wasn't true or fair to either of them, but it was what they both felt.

At twenty-one, he'd told her that he had a plan for his new band and the chance to start touring.

That poet's free-spirit. She couldn't restrain it, and by that point, it hadn't even really mattered to her. Though he'd have hated himself for years afterwards, he would have left her behind anyways.

She wasn't good enough to hold him back.

So why make it any more painful for him?

Then, she threw herself into 'Ladybug,' and the struggle against the new Hawkmoth who had replaced Gabriel Agreste, now retired from both supervillainy and the fashion industry, leaving his company in the hands of Nathalie Sancour until Adrien finished business school.

And she did something stupid.

She tried to rebound again.

Atop the Eiffel tower, she told Chat that she was ready to accept his feelings, just assuming that though he was professional with her now, and hadn't called her “bugaboo” or “milady” in years, he'd drop at her feet, just like Luka had.

How self-centered could she be to think that he'd wait for five years? It wasn't even that he would have been waiting for her to love him; he would have been waiting to be ... third choice - a consolation consolation prize.

“I- uh. I'm sorry, Ladybug,” he said haltingly, rubbing the back of his neck. “I've got, well... a fiance.”

 _Bitch_.

It was almost frightening: the roiling, acidic hatred towards this faceless woman that stabbed through her heart because Chat was _her_ partner.

She'd smiled and tried to wheedle him out of it because wasn't he too young to even have proposed?

He sighed and looked to the distance in the way that he used to look at her: awed, gentle, smiling.

“She accepted, but we don't have a date, yet.”

If she'd thought that there was a chance, he dashed that hope immediately.

“We've got the rest of our lives. We don't have to rush. I just wanted her to know that I'm hers, whenever she'll have me.”

So she laughed off her embarrassment and pain and sense of betrayal because how _dare_ he move on when she couldn't and was still in love with Adrien, saying that she was happy for him.

Even when he called her to meet him months later and told her that he was sorry, but he couldn't do this any more, she smiled like it was nothing. He had to trade one ring for another because the girl he loved deserved _all_ of him.

It took them another few months to train a replacement, Chat using the snake miraculous to spar and instruct.

Then, the Black Cat ring was left on a rooftop. She thought about spying on him when he left it, but what would be the point of that? They'd both made their choices.

Speeches at the reception: Nino, the best man, Kagami, Gabriel, Tomoe, Adrien.

“I love you, Kagami,” Adrien said so softly, the tone achingly familiar, taking the smiling Japanese girl by the hands, “and whatever happens in this life, I'll be with you, even if it's you and me against the world. Without hesitation.”

Marinette, the maid of honour, barely made it to the bathroom before throwing up.

**Author's Note:**

> An experiment in concision, and a struggle to keep myself to exactly 1000 words. So much was cut... 
> 
> First time writing pure angst as practice. Was it effective, trite, too much of a pile-on?


End file.
